Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1887-01-19
Held up on a Train-by One of the
Cowards.

~
road who allowed themselves to bt
"gone through" by trio of robbers
and the editor closed by clubbing
them q set of arrant towards. That'i
the way it probably looked to great
many others, but let US view the mat.
ter from the inside of the train.
Five or six years ago / was boom
ing along over an Arkansas railroad
and the time was IL o'clock P. NJ
The one sleeper on the train had
every berth taken, and the two pas
sengers coaches were pretty well
filled with men, women and children.
There were twelve men in the sleeper.
Of these eight had their wives along.
l had a revolver, and I presume most
of the other men had. We were
all asleep, and the train stopped at a
water tank in lonely spot, when
three desperadoes boarded the train.
One got on between the two passen-
ger coaches, threw open both doors,
and standing on the platform in such
way that he could guard both
coaches, he shouted:
"Now, then, the first one who
makes a move will get a dose Of
buckshot."
He had double-barreled shotgun,
and had he fired into either car, three
or four or FIVE people must have been
hit. The second robber got on be-
tween the last coach and the sleeper,
and the third on the rear platform Of
the sleeper itself. Both doors of this
last car were thrown open together
and the two men entered from oppo-
site ends. We were awakened from
sweet slumber by one of them calling
out:
"Now, gents, turn out your valua-
bles. We don't want to hurt nobody,
but if a trigger is pulled we'll open
fire OIL the whole car"
Well, now. what would that belli.
gerent editor have done under the
circumstances? They were desperate
men, bent on a desperate work, and
held human life as worth no more
than pound of dog meat. His re-
volver would have been in his panta-
looms at the foot of the berth, as mine
was. His wife would have begged
him for Gods sake to give up every.
thing, as mine did, and as all the other
wives did. He would have realized,
as we all did, that no revolver could
be poked out from behind the curtains
without being seen in a second, and
that one single shot from any one OF
us would have exposed each side Of
the car to a fusilade Of buckshot. II
would have been the same had we
been up and dressed and in our seats.
There would have been a man to face
us and another behind our backs.
Just take seat on chair and see
how quick you can pull pistol from
your hip-pocket. Note the movements
you have to make, and then assert, if
you dare, that you could get the drop
on two men whose hawk-eyes were
watching the move of every finger.
The conductor and baggageman
and brakeman we're in the baggage
car. They all had revolvers, but
they saw at once that shot from them
would be the death of three or four
passengers, A bullet may miss by
hairs breadth; buckshot can't help
but hit.
The two men came down the car,
each with his gun in his left-hand, and
knife and revolver in his belt, and
stopped at each berth. l had S185
and a gold watch and diamond pin.
My wife hid s135 of the money and
the watch and pin before the fellows
got to us. l handed out the other
fifty, and as it was crumpled up it
looked like big roll.
Call right--that's business "
the man as he received it.
'Now for your tickers."
"Never had one"
"Ob, you didn't! III look for that
us l come back p
In this way the two fellows passed
each other, taking whatever was hand
ed out, and as they reached the ends
Of the car one Of them fired a shot
which went through the roof, and the
next moment were off, No one in the
coaches had been robbed,
and no one on the train had been injur-
ed. Why1 Because all had exhibit
ed common sense. That so-called
bravery which the editor referred to
'ighs for, might have tempted some
one to fire his pistol. The result
would have been the killing of half
of us. Those men boarded the train
with the determination to kill whoev-
,r resisted them, and they probably
would have done it.
And let me say that among the
towards" in that sleeper were fivo
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